MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – A judge on Thursday gave state Democrats the go-ahead to question high-ranking Republicans in a civil suit over GOP phone jamming in 2002.

Democrats want to know who knew about a plan to jam Democrats’ phone lines on Election Day 2002, a crime that has led to convictions of three former GOP officials.

They point to a record of phone calls that show that national GOP official James Tobin, one of those convicted, made two dozen calls to the White House within a three-day period as the phone jamming operation was finalized, carried out and then abruptly shut down.

Democrats want to question the former associate director of the White House Political Affairs Office, Alicia Davis, and the former executive director of political operations for the RNC, Terry Nelson. Also on their list is the former national political director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Chris LaCivita, and Edward Gillespie, former RNC chairman.

The national Republican Party, which paid millions in legal bills to defend Tobin, who’s from Bangor, said the contacts involved routine election business and that it was “preposterous” to suggest the calls involved phone jamming.

Robert Kelner, a Washington, D.C., lawyer representing the Republican National Committee, did not object to the Democratic request Thursday in Hillsborough County Superior Court. But he said some of the officials the Democrats want to question may fight being deposed.

Judge Philip Mangones granted the Democrats’ request to appoint individuals in Virginia and Washington D.C. to oversee the depositions of former national Republican officials who live there.

In New Hampshire, Democrats want to question, among others, former Republican state Chairman John Dowd and Jayne Millerick, then a GOP campaign consultant. Also on their list is Chuck McGee, who was director of the New Hampshire GOP in 2002 and who admitted to coming up with the phone-jamming idea and served seven months for conspiracy.

The calls tied up phone lines for more than an hour as Democrats and the nonpartisan Manchester firefighters’ union were offering rides to the polls.

The lawsuit alleges GOP interference with telephone systems and seeks compensation. The trial is scheduled to begin on Nov. 27.

AP-ES-07-13-06 1344EDT